Image Details

Scala/Art Resource

Deadly deception. Jacob’s wife Rachel hides her father Laban’s icons from him (center left) in this painting by the 18th-century Venetian artist Giovanni Baptiste Tiepolo. Claiming that she is “in the manner of women” and cannot rise in her father’s presence, Rachel conceals the icons—household gods symbolic of a clan or family’s good fortune—in the saddlebags beneath her. Rachel thus recompenses Laban for substituting her older sister Leah for her on Jacob’s wedding night.

Tragically, Jacob (center right) unknowingly curses her, saying to Laban, “With whomever you find your gods, let that person not live” (Genesis 31:32). While giving birth to her second son, Benjamin, Rachel dies—a fatal recompense for her deception of Laban.